10 Best Articulate Presenter Tricks and Tips

I often use Articulate Presenter for rapid course development and every so often, I come across a tip or trick that amazes me. I’ve collected a nice little list of tutorials that can greatly expand your creative options for rapid development and wanted to share them with you. I also included a link to Articulate’s accessibility document at the end, which is important to read. Anyway, hope you enjoy this!

1. You can replace the side-panel with an image of your choosing.

You can add an image to the sidebar by creating a static .swf file. The replacement image has to be ‘sufficiently long’ perhaps 450 to 500px. Create this image with a product called image2swf or use a 2 frame Flash movie. How to Customize the Presenter Player Side Panel.

2. You can speed up the start of inserted media with a custom preloader.

If you create a custom preloader, your video or Flash files download ahead of time so they start up quickly when you get to the appropriate slide. Custom Preloader.

4. You can add a Flash file, like an activity or game, as a Player Tab.

If you have a game or activity made in Flash, the standard approach is to insert it into the slide as a Flash movie. Instead, you can add it as a tab. It’s a little complex, so let me give you a heads up. You add an Engage interaction as a Player Tab (the third choice when adding an Engage piece), just to get the file structure set up correctly. Then you publish and swap out the engage .swf file for your own .swf file. Watch this full screen. Inserting .swf Files as Player Tabs.

5. You can install additional Engage interactions made outside of Articulate.

6. You can build a custom skin for Articulate without being a Flash expert.

I haven’t tried this yet, but Dave Mozealous walks you through how to develop a custom skin that masks the Articulate Presenter player. This is good for customizing your own internal projects or for clients who don’t want the standard Articulate player look. Custom Skin in An Hour.

7. You can create zoom and pan effects for your courses

After Joe Deegan published his approach, both Articulate and Microsoft chimed in with additional pointers. So you’ll find several ways to achieve zoom and pan here. Zoom and Pan.

8. You can create animated backgrounds

You wouldn’t want to use an animated background throughout an entire course, but it could be nice in a presentation or at the start of a course to gain attention, to represent passage of time in a scenario, or as part of a game. The possible uses seem endless. Animated Background.

9. You can greatly expand your Flash and video options through Quizmaker

Apparently, QuizMaker has additional functionality when it comes to video. Who knew? The first part of this tutorial explains how to get a blank slide with no results at the end. If you know how to do this, then scroll down to learn how to: 1) add multiple videos to a single slide (but what about split attention?), 2) add player controls to a video and 3) annotate a video by adding graphics on top of it. Quizmaker Video Options.

10. There is a Voluntary Product Accessibility Document from Articulate.

Okay, this isn’t a tip or trick, but it’s important. If you want to ensure that Articulate Presenter and its related products meet accessibility standards, Articulate provides a nine page document you can find here: Articulate Accessibility Document.

If you have other creative approaches to share, please add them in the Comments section. You can also join us on FACEBOOK and share them there!